Using the third-party TweetDeck application, set up a permanent search for all variations of competitors' names, especially when used with loaded words like "sucks" or "hate." Then, follow these dissatisfied folks, and if they follow you back (as many folks more or less automatically do), you can send them direct messages offering better service or other incentives to switch.

It will be interesting to see a debate on this issue. While some may find this practice questionable, I'm sure there are many who consider this good business.

Fore more resources on Twitter and its uses, click on the following links to our Knowledge Network:

Poaching customers via twitter new? Hardly, this has been going on probably since soon after twitter started.

Once of my first uses of Twitter was to create twitter alerts of the company I work for and all of its competitors. One of the uses of this was to poach dissatisfied customers. I got the idea from a blog post on how to use twitter.